Hope Of The States - Left has been my favourite

can't be arsed thinking about this too deeply so i'll just name three brilliant albums that you may not have checked out... charalambides - a vintage burden (beautiful, spacious, crisp, free-folk) camera obscura - let's get out of this country (you know these guys, don't you?... if not, why not?) volcano! - beautiful seizure (part noise, part indie - freeform drumming with some electronic (leaf label, you see)... vocals like thom yorke on the run from a mental asylum - just amazing) at the very least, check out some reviews of the above - see what you are missing... cheers

1 - Scott Walker - The Drift 2 - TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain 3 - iForward, Russia! - Give Me A Wall 4 - Guillemots - Through The Window Pane 5 - Delays - You See Colours 6 - Hope Of The States - Left 7 - Muse - Black Holes And Revelations 8 - Thom Yorke - The Eraser I'll add more soon, because I'm not allowed to add Amputechture or the new Cooper Temple Clause album yet.

After listening to the Guillemots album once, I didn't really see much appeal. There are far too many drippy ballads that are so slow the melody can seem tied together with sellotape. The upbeat songs are brilliant its just that its ridden with slow songs that don't really work. I suppose I'll have to give it another go because you all said it was good...

I find that whenever I listen to the album at a very loud volume, I hear more. There really is a beautiful ambience running through it. It's like a more poppy Sigur Ros in places. Lovely to listen to, though, except when you're in the mood for a bit of Dillinger Escape Plan.

1. Midlake - The trials of Van Occupanther 2. Clap your hands say yeah 3. Minotaur Shock - Maritime 4. Raconteurs - Broken boy soldiers 5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - show your bones Just got the Midlake album - its great. Really melancholic with good harmonies. Kinda like early seventies stuff from CSN&Y and Fleetwood Mac dare i say it but in a good way. Roscoe and Young Bride are standout tracks with great videos on youtube.com. Not mad about YYY's latest offering - patchy at best. Turn into is the best song. But I still can't wait to see them at Leccy piccy cos of the singer. Saw them play on Johnathan Ross and she was magnetic.

Cheated hearts is the best IMO. I have no idea what Turn into means coz the chorus makes absolutely no sense and it sends me flying in all directions in trying to understand what the hell she's talking about. Anyone care to shine some light on this?

Yo Yo Yo! Quiet enjoyed so far this year. The Aliens - Alienoid Starmonica EP TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain Raconteurs - Broken Toy Soldier Sufjan Stevens - Avalanche (the outtakes album) Peter, paul and John ... Mikmon .. "Kinda like early seventies stuff from CSN&Y and Fleetwood Mac dare i say it but in a good way" You obviously havn't got a very good set of ears or perhaps they are just aint coooooool enough!

After having listened to the Guillemots album for a week now, I must say I really like it, even the droppy slow ballads. Tom Dunne has been playing Joan As Policewoman's single for the last couple of nites and it sounds deadly. Waiting for the album to appear on Allofmp3.com but no sign of it yet. Yes I know, Allofmp3 and no royalties, but since I got burdened with a mortgage, my morals have went astray.

elmo -I agree, Cheated Hearts is the best track. I love Warrior too - the atmosphere is unbelievable.

Surprised that nobody has mentioned Tilly And The Wall, Golden Smog, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Diableros, Grizzly Bear, Built To Spill, The Format, Jason Collet or Ladyhawk in this thread.